All Theorists (March Mocks)

Question 1

Laura Mulvey

Answer 1

Male Gaze:
When media is produced to appeal to or is made through the eyes of heterosexual men thus women are sexualised or are undermined or underdeveloped characters where men are typically the dominant figures and play Propp’s heroes.

Question 2

Roland Barthes

Answer 2

Semiotics:
Focuses on the denotative and conatative meaning behind symbols and explains that signs and symbols etc. have universal meanings and shared connotations between most people.

Signifier = The symbol
Signified = the connotations

Question 3

Stuart Hall

Answer 3

Reception Theory:
Suggests that media texts contain a variety of messages and ideologies that are encoded (mad/inserted) by producers and are decoded by the audience.

The audience can have a:
PREFERRED reading: where the audience accept the encoded messages and reacts as the producers want them to, sometimes allowing the media to change, modify and manipulate their opinions. This is known as a PASSIVE audience.

NEGOTIATED reading: where the audience questions the encoded message but understands and accepts it to some extent.

OPPOSITIONAL reading: where the audience is opposed to the encoded messages, disagrees with the encoded messages and is able to perceive them in a critical way by putting in place their own opinions. This is known as an ACTIVE audience who can interpret the media in their own way and are engaging.

Question 4

Vladimir Propp

Answer 4

Propp’s Narrative Theory:
There are given roles within a narrative which characters play in order for the narrative to be driven forward - key characters for a conventional story.

• Hero
• Princess
• Helper
• Donor
• False Hero
• Villain
• Dispatcher
• (sometimes an Authority Figure, for instance a parent)

Question 5

Richard Dyer

Answer 5

Star Theory:
Stars/celebrities are calculated and designed by the media to serve a purpose, message or represent an ideology. They are not real personalities.

• The star is a construct
• the star is an ideology
• The star is a commodity (product)

Question 6

Blumler and Katz

Answer 6

Uses and Gratification Theory:
There are multiple ways in which audiences utilise the media which include:
1) Entertainment and Diversion
2) Inform and Educate
3) Social Interaction
4) Personal Identity

The theory argues that media audiences are active as they are able to choose which media to engage with to meet their personal uses and gratification and that power is primarily in the hands of the consumer.

Question 7

The Bechdel Test

Answer 7

Measures the representation of women in film and other fiction. The test asks whether a work features at least two female characters who have direct conversation between each other about something other than a man.